SOMETIMES, indeed, you could put your finger on a definite lie. It was not true, for example, as was claimed in the Party history books, that the Party had invented aeroplanes. He remembered aeroplanes since his earliest childhood. But you could prove nothing. There was never any evidence.” ~ 1984, George Orwell On November 12,…
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Both the Houses of Parliament have passed the current Minster of Social Justice and Empowerment, Dr Thaawarchand Gehlot’s Bill titled ‘the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty Fourth Amendment) Bill, 2019’. The Bill sought to amend Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution to provide a maximum of 10% reservation in public employment and higher educational…
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This is the third of a three-part series on the anniversary of the Bhima Koregaon case. Links to Part I and Part II.] [WATCH] The Bhima Koregaon Case: What Really Happened Owing to violence as many as 628 crimes under Indian Penal Code (IPC), general laws and 17 under Atrocities Act came to be registered. However,…
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ON January 7, 2019, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul issued notice on a petition requiring Election Commission of India (ECI) to count and cross-verify the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (“VVPATs”) in at least 30% (randomly chosen) of all polling…
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IF at all there is a trend in the Indian political scenario since 2014 which can be called consistent, it is the suppression of dissent. Governments have been treading every possible route to quell dissent, from within and outside their systems, and this led political pundits to argue that the democratic fabric of India is in…
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[WATCH] The Bhima Koregaon Case: What Really Happened AS stated earlier, Justices P B Sawant and Kolse-Patil, and many other dignitaries from across Maharashtra gathered and conceptualised the programme which was to result in the arrest of at least ten activists on charges of sedition and terrorism, after over six months. In a democratic manner,…
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ONE Saturday morning in early 2013, the Mumbai-based lawyer Sanjay Singhvi called Vijay Hiremath. Singhvi asked Hiremath to meet him in his office near the Bombay High Court that afternoon. By way of explaining the sudden invitation, he mentioned that the late Mukul Sinha, a prominent human rights advocate and lawyer from Gujarat, was in…
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TWO esteemed former judges of constitutional courts, both with strong civil rights activist networks, have been conducting various programmes and campaigns aiming at social equality, fraternity and communal peace. They thought it important to celebrate the bicentenary of the Koregaon-Bhima Battle on January 1, 2018, which to their understanding of society would result into harmony between…
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A few days ago, the newly formed Congress government in Rajasthan headed by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, repealed a rule by the previous the BJP government, that prevented people without a secondary education from contesting Panchayat and other elections. A move that should have drawn universal applause, except from the usual suspects in the Sangh…
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It has been 13 years since Sohrabuddin Anwarhussain Sheikh died. He was killed in an “encounter” with the Gujarat police, which is widely believed to be a case of “fake encounter”. He died on November 26, 2005 and since then his brother Rubabuddin has fought for justice. Rubabuddin filed a writ petition in the Supreme…
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